Giving Compass' Take:

• Salem Solomon explains how food scarcity and poverty force girls into sex work, in this case in Kenya. 

• Crises leave women and girls vulnerable to exploitation, how can funders work to change crisis response to match their needs?

• Learn about the crackdown on abuse following the Oxfam abuse scandal. 

Women and girls as young as 12 from Kenya's countryside are being forced into sex work to support families affected by prolonged drought. They have little or no education and travel at least 50 kilometers (30 miles) to reach urban areas, working in unsafe conditions far from their homes.

The impact of drought on rural communities such as those in Turkana's countryside can be particularly harsh. In addition to soaring food prices, rural families face decimated livestock and diminished crops. With grim prospects for survival and a dire need for money, young girls find themselves in early marriages, child labor, and forced prostitution.

The U.S.-funded Famine Early Warnings Systems Network forecasts that conditions in Kenya will shift toward minimal and stressed levels of food insecurity, the lowest levels on their scale, from October to January. However, much of Turkana will continue to experience crisis levels of food insecurity.

“Donors should reinstate funding now, supporting girls to get out of commercial sex work and have better and safer opportunities to feed themselves and their families,” said Conor Phillips, Kenya country director at the International Rescue Committee.

Read the full article about Kenyan girls by Salem Solomon at VOA News.